


Understanding

by nonna



Category: Captain America (Movies), DC Cinematic Universe, DCU (Comics), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Wonder Woman (2017)
Genre: Age of Ultron, But if you guys like this I could do another fic with Diana & Steve to show his POV, Crossover, Gen, Iron Man 1, NO Wonder Woman spoilers, Not a civil war fix it or trying to explain both POVs, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Team Iron Man, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark-centric, Wonder Woman is a good friend, but this is a Tony centric fic, marvel/dc crossover - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-09
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-11-11 14:02:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11149923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nonna/pseuds/nonna
Summary: Tony needs a friend who can... understand. Someone who knows that every person has both good and bad in them, and that how they act on it is what ultimately matters.Diana Prince understands.





	Understanding

**Author's Note:**

> I made a post on my tumblr (@newtsckamander) about this concept and a number of people seemed to agree with the idea, so I thought I'd write a one shot exploring a possible friendship between Diana & Tony.
> 
> Enjoy!

The first time Diana saw the infamous Merchant of Death in person was in the year 2006. An expo was being held in honour of the release of multiple new military weapons from Stark Industries, designed by Mr. Stark himself. There was a great hype surrounding the news of the weapons; missiles with impeccable accuracy, bombs with target specificity, unmanned machine guns… 

_To Protect Our America_ seemed to be the selling line of the campaign.

Diana felt sick. 

She had experienced both world wars. She had seen, first-hand, the power behind those machines. Mankind had always felt compelled to build new weapons for “protection”, but Diana had mostly seen them create further chaos and lead to further deaths. On every side of the war, the soldiers believed they were fighting to protect something––their families, countries, the _world_ … Diana wished that was always the case.

Tony Stark was aiding in the creation of war. Diana had visited countries and towns across numerous continents, destroyed, torn to the ground with only remnants of _Stark Industries_ weapons standing to remind everyone of the true “heroes”. 

Tony Stark was not a hero. In fact, Diana felt the title “Merchant of Death” suited him quite well.His weapons, his designs, were the reason behind his great wealth––the lives of those ruined under his business plans and trading deals meant nothing to a man who would ultimately profit from their deaths.

So when Tony approached her, with a drink in hand and a confident smile, Diana could only push back the disgust as she excused herself with a polite smile.

 

* * *

 

“The truth is… I _am_ Iron Man.”

Diana’s eyes widened. 

She set down the remote control, shaking her head. Tony Stark had disappeared three months prior, after a trip to showcase his new Jericho missile in Afghanistan. Many sources speculated he was dead, while others believed he was being held captive. Some had even theorized that he had purposely gone into hiding to aid the foreign troops against the military in an odd conspiracy. 

Diana hadn’t exactly chosen to believe anything. She was intrigued, but she did not exactly… Well, his fate wasn’t one of her priorities, not was it of her greater interests.

Now he had returned, and he had turned _himself_ into a weapon?

_But he’s shutting down the Stark Industries association with the military weapons_ , she thought. _He’s cutting himself away from profiting off the deaths of innocent lives. His company will take quite a hit after shutting down the weapons’ department; he may lose a lot of his income and business partners._

_But he did it._

She raised an eyebrow. It was quite a bold move. 

Her mouth formed into a soft frown, however, when images of the Iron Man flashed across the TV screen once again, associated with all kinds of headlines––accusatory, praising, and some even downright demeaning. 

It was a bold move to shut down the weapon’s department of Stark Industries.

And yet, a part of Diana feared that he was simply going to be creating a new form of chaos altogether.

 

* * *

 

“Captain Rogers?” Diana wondered, tracing a hand over the image of Steve plastered onto the front page of the newspaper. “I don’t understand. He was dead? And they were able to revive him?”

Clark shook his head. “From what I understand, he was alive the whole time. Almost a whole seventy years, frozen under the ice. They found him, thawed him, and he was up and running.”

“But he fought in the war. It says… It says here that he crashed a plane. To save everyone.” It was hard to push down the hint of emotion coming through Diana’s voice. She cleared her throat. “He was a war hero.”

Clark looked up from the newspaper in his hands, eyes meeting Diana’s. “Yes. One like many others, except he was lucky enough to be a human so physically enhanced that he could survive seventy years under the ice without sustaining any damage to his organs. So he lived. Many soldiers cannot survive the wars. You know that.”

Her eyes softened, and she lowered her gaze back to the image of Steve Rogers, standing amongst his troops in a black-and-white image from the 1940s. Oh, how he resembled her Steve… “I do know that.”

“He seems like a respectful man.”

“I would like to think that he is.”

Clark nodded, giving her a small smile. A few minutes later, he set down the newspaper and straightened his glasses. “So there are more superheroes nowadays, it seems. New York was never quite as bad as Metropolis and Gotham, was it? But I suppose they could they use their own set of superheroes.”

Diana chuckled. “I don’t know, a lot seems to happen in New York. This is a new one, though. The ‘Avengers’ possibly out to fight as a team. I’m not sure how to feel about it. An interesting combination of heroes, I think.”

Clark raised an eyebrow.

“I mean, this man, this Steve Rogers––fighting alongside Tony Stark? They… They kind of represent different ideals, don’t you think? A war hero fighting against a man who manufactured wars for the majority of his life.”

"We'll have to wait and see."

 

“I guess we will.”

 

 

Two days later, the media was flooded with images of Iron Man flying a nuke into a wormhole.

“He could have died,” Diana noted, shaking her head at the footage playing on the television screen in the café. “He knew that would most likely be a one-way trip.”

“Can’t say I’m not impressed,” Clark admitted.

“He was a _hero_.” Diana said, a smile forming on her lips. “He… That was very heroic.”

Diana supposed she had a weakness for heroes who flew explosives into the sky, despite knowing they could––or would––die in the process, in order to save the lives of many others.

“It was. And he survived it. I guess we’ll be expecting more from this Avengers team soon.”

Diana grinned.

 

* * *

 

The Avengers did return, but this time it was with Ultron.

Built by Tony Stark himself.

Diana was––she was very disappointed when she saw the news. When she saw the live streaming footage from Sokovia, when she saw what Stark’s creation had caused, she could barely contain her anger.

She flew out to Sokovia.

She did not interfere with the fight the Avengers were leading; instead, she stopped by a few of the small towns surrounding Sokovia, receiving a fair share of the damage but none of the help or the coverage that was being provided to Sokovia.

She tried to push it away, to move on from the incident, but she was _angry_. And the news kept replaying reels of the battle, with reporters yelling about whether superheroes were even _trustworthy––_

How dare they tint their image in that way?

How dare _he_?

So Wonder Woman acquired his address (he was no longer residing with the Avengers, who had moved to the facility) and headed to his home. 

She broke through the glass windows, fully clad in her battle armour, and stomped over to where the Merchant of Death sat. She waited a few moments for him to acknowledge her presence, tightening her hands into fists.

Tony Stark remained still, hand hovering over his eyes, slouched back in his seat.

“How dare you?” She asked, loud enough to strike fear into most men. “How could you build that monster? That was the work of a villain, not a hero. Do you see the news? Do you see––do you see how many lives you’ve ruined with your selfish tactics?”

Tony slid his hand down, finally looking up to meet her eyes. 

He looked very, very tired.

Diana flung out her lasso, gripping his wrist and tugging at it.

“That is not what heroes do. We do not start a war so that we can end it. Our job is to stop the villains from starting wars. Do you not understand this? Answer me: why did you do it? Do you––”

“I’m sorry.” 

Diana paused mid sentence, tilting her head as she stared down the man. 

“What?”

“I’m sorry.” Tony whispered again. “You’re right. What I did––it was wrong. It was wrong, and selfish, and I… I was afraid. Afraid of what’s out there, what’s beyond our,” he gestured around the room, “our little planet in this big, wide world of creatures. I don’t know much about you, Miss Prince, but I have a feeling you’re not a human. And that you’ve seen much of what’s out there, but I can’t have ex––”

“I saw much more than you can imagine, Mr. Stark,” Diana hissed, surprised by the fact that he had referred to her with her ‘human’ identity. “And it never once compelled me to create a monster. It never once compelled _me_ to turn into a monster.”

“That’s,” Tony gave her a small smile. A broken smile. “That’s what I was trying to get to––I built Ultron because I was afraid, but I can’t have any excuses. You are a prime example of what I _should_ have been. And I’m sorry. What I did was wrong.”

Diana relaxed her shoulders, the fight suddenly draining from her.

“Fear changes mankind.”

“I think fear changes everyone.”

Diana furrowed her eyebrows, studying him carefully for a few moments. She nodded. 

“What were you hoping to accomplish?” She asked, more softly this time.

Tony wasn’t even questioning the lasso wrapped around his wrist.

“I was hoping that Ultron would be… a shield. A shield to protect the Earth from the inevitable alien war that’s about to hit us sooner than we may like to expect. But it wasn’t my place to decide how we would go about doing that. It wasn’t my place to build Ultron. And I regret all of it. I regret every mistake I made, I… I was just trying to fix my mistakes. I was trying to protect everyone, but every time I try––I end up hurting everyone. I killed all those people when I was manufacturing weapons, and––and then I made Ultron and––You asked if I see how many lives I’ve ruined, and yes, yes I do. Every day, every night. I…” He shook his head, a little bit of confusion lining his features. Why was he telling her all of this, exactly? “I never forget. And I can’t ask for forgiveness.”

Diana stood in silence for a minute.

“Do you know what this is?” She asked, then, lightly tugging at the lasso once again. 

Tony shook his head.

“It compels you to tell the truth.” He had not even struggled against it––he had been more than willing to own up to the truth.

Diana had a deep feeling that he would have told her the same truth had he not been under the influence of the lasso.

“That explains why I can’t control my trap,” Tony said, exhaling slowly. “But, on the other hand, I guess you might just be the first person who can believe that what I said is the truth about how I feel. Everyone else always seems to believe that I’m lying. That I have no remorse, no feelings, no––” He snapped his mouth shut. “Okay, that was too much. I don’t like this thing.”

Diana smiled, despite herself, as she nodded. “Not very many men happen to be fond of it.” She pulled it back, releasing his wrist. “But know this, Tony Stark… I respect a man who can be aware of his mistakes. It does not change what you did.”

“Nothing can change what I did.”

“But––I can honour your intentions.”

Tony studied her carefully.

“I think that’s more than I deserve.”

Diana did not need to place him under the lasso to know that he was telling the truth in what he thought.

 

* * *

 

“What happened to you?” Diana asked, her eyes travelling up and down Tony’s body. She shook her head. “And what are you doing here?”

Bruce Wayne looked between Diana and Tony. “You know each other?”

Tony sighed, giving Diana one of his tired, but genuine, smiles. Diana had grown to recognize it from their few past meetings. “Something like that,” he answered Bruce. Then he turned to Diana. “I’m here because I just wanted to check in on Bruce. I heard some news about Arkham Asylum breaking open and… Well, I visited Gotham and he wasn’t there, so his son, Tim, directed me here.”

“Well, you are welcome in the Justice League head quarters.” Diana said, smiling back. “That still does not answer––what happened to you?”

Tony shoved his right hand into his pocket, lowering his gaze to the ground. His face was littered with scars and bruises, his left arm was broken and currently put into a cast, he was leaning over the counter because when he walked, he experienced a small limp.

“Got into a catfight with one of my friends. Definitely don’t recommend that, even though,” he turned to Bruce, “I think Diana would kick your ass while barely trying.”

“And you think you could survive a fight with Diana?” Bruce challenged, smirking.

“Not at all. I barely survived a fight with two humans injected with enhanced serums. I’d drop dead at the thought of fighting Diana.” 

Diana laughed, though she did not miss the hurt tone lining his voice as he referred back to his fight with the supersoldiers. She sighed. “So, what exactly happened? The Accords, the Avengers… Captain America is a fugitive now? I don’t understand.”

“Yeah, that makes two of us.” Tony said. He cleared his throat. “Uh, no, yeah. Basically, the Accords stated that we are dangerous as an independent team of superheroes, and a hundred and seventeen countries thought that we needed to be put under supervision of the United Nations… After our lovely talk, I think you can see why I thought this would be a great idea.”

“After Ultron?”

“And after––and after almost every fight, even the ones that we didn’t start. There were always casualties, Diana, and I understand that, I do. We can’t always save everyone. But if we can minimize the damage, if we can work with other countries and respect their wishes, you know––why not?”

Bruce received a phone call, and excused himself quietly.

Diana nodded at Tony. “And your team did not approve of that?”

“They didn’t want to follow an organization with an agenda. They felt that we would be better off acting at our own will––or, sorry, _they_ would be better off acting at _their_ own will, because whenever I do something then I have to be accountable for it but they don’t––” he said with a shrug. “Anyway, uh, yeah. Pretty much just that. They wanted to be free to fight the battles they wanted to. And I thought that after everything, being held accountable was exactly what we’d want.”

“I… Yes. Of course. We must be held accountable. We act on our free will,” Diana said slowly, “but we cooperate with the authorities. You work with Gordon very often,” she told Bruce, “and I worked with the military in a few occasions…. Didn’t the Captain himself lead in the army? Was he not––I thought he would be more invested in this.”

Tony nodded, clenching his jaw. “Captain America knows best.”

“He is a man. No one man knows best.” Diana furrowed her eyebrows. “You didn’t, when you made Ultron. And now you are admitting to it and you wish to be held responsible for future actions.”

Tony smiled. Relief flooded his features.

“Yeah. Yeah, exactly.”

“And I understand, I may not want to be controlled by someone.” Diana continued. “But if a hundred and seventeen nations wished to put input on my strategies, I would not be hesitant to respond.”

“The guy in charge was sketchy, I’ll admit that. But I was thinking instead of going against it, maybe we can have one hand on the wheel, bring change to the agreement while being part of it instead of directly opposing it. No one else on the team really continued with that idea.”

“The Captain did not even wish to discuss the topic?”

“He didn’t want to sign.”

Diana shook her head, slightly puzzled, and crossed her arms. “So he fought you?”

“Kind of. I kind of fought him, too.” Tony admitted. “I mean his friend was involved, too, it wasn’t just the Accords. Cap ran away, government wanted him… Ross even suggested shooting him on site, so I tried to get us some time to discuss with him again. We tried, at the airport, they fought us, we fought back, we damaged more property… He and hispreviously brainwashed buddy got away, and the rest of them got captured by Ross.”

Diana nodded, urging him to continue.

“Took them to a place I didn’t even know existed, strapped Wanda down like a rogue animal,” he winced at the memory, “and I felt angry, and I decided to help Cap out instead––which meant I would go to shit with the government. But I went, and I tried to help him…”

“And he fought you?”

“It was a set up. A trap. Zemo had footage of Cap’s friend––James Barnes––killing my…” Tony flinched. “Killing my parents. While he was under Hydra’s brainwash influence. I was… I was trying to control myself but––but then I realized Cap had known the whole time and––and he’d kept that from me because he didn’t want me to know? He thought it was his secret to keep to protect his friend and––I lost it. I attacked them. They fought me back, and voila. They were gone, and here I am.”

Diana’s nose scrunched up in distaste.

“I’m a fuck-up, Diana. That’s it. That’s the answer to everything that you asked me that night––why did I do it? Why was I this way? It’s because I fuck up everything. I’m not a hero, was never supposed to be one. Every time I try to fix something I destroy it.”

“Don’t say that,” Diana whispered.

“I’m saying it because it’s _true_. I don’t need your lasso to force it out of me. I’m saying it. I fuck up. I’m a failure.” Tony’s voice grew louder and shakier. “And––I’m tired of it. I’m tired of being a failure all the time. I was never good enough for my dad, I was never good enough for Obadiah, I was never good enough for the Avengers, for Pepper, for––for the _world_. I used to think I was alive for a reason. Now I’m starting to think that maybe I shouldn’t have stayed alive to begin with. Maybe it was a curse that I survived everything.”

He let out a very soft, barely audible sob. Then he shut his eyes, tilting his head back, and letting a few tears push past his eyelids and down his cheeks. “You were born a hero, Diana. Steve was always a good man, and the powers made him better. And I… I’m a villain who tries to convince himself that he’s a hero.”

His eyes snapped open when he felt himself get pulled into a warm embrace.

Diana held him for a few moments, and the only sound in the room was the sound their breathing.

“I have learned many things in my years amongst mankind, Tony.” Diana said, pulling away––but keeping her hands on Tony’s upper arms. “But one of the very first lessons I learned was to understand that no one is simply good or evil. I used to believe that. I thought destroying one force would rid mankind of all evil, and they would be happy and peaceful for all years to come. But thirty years later, another world war happened. And crime never stopped, not after the wars, not now… I learned that all mankind is both good and evil. You are what you choose to act on.”

“I choose to act on what I think is the right thing,” Tony rasped. “But it almost always results in something bad.”

“And yet you keep trying to fix it, and you continue choosing to be good. You had an interesting life, Tony. You grew up with your morals in jeopardy––your father manufactured weapons, you did it for many years… That is hard to unlearn. And yet you keep trying. You keep choosing to pursue the right thing. Captain America was not born a moral man. His upbringing must have played a large role into his good morals. But sometimes, even the best men can be blind to their own flaws. I think the captain was blind in his judgement when he thought that 117 nations could be ignored. His morals may be good, but there are many things he may not be aware of that the 117 nations could have helped him learn and understand. And you, Tony? You are a flawed man. But you are aware of your flaws, and you keep insisting to choose to act on and explore the good in you.”

Tony’s breath caught in his chest.

“Some heroes die in an act of heroism.” Diana continued. “Some survive, and they live to continue to be heroes. But that doesn’t mean that they’re always good or that they always make the right choices. Bruce, for example, he told me recently about what happened to his son Jason. He regrets his actions to this day. And have you seen Damian? That boy, such a complicated boy….” She smiled. “Not everyone has the privilege to be raised a hero or with good morals. But I like to think that the heroes are the ones who strive despite the obstacles they face. The ones who do not give in to the more corrupt morals they were raised with simply because it’s the easier path.”

“God, it could have been much easier to just continue manufacturing weapons,” Tony breathed out. “But I couldn’t have lived with myself. Not after what I saw. And I still wonder if I should just have stopped at that. If I should have never gone on with the Iron Man.”

Diana patted his shoulder. “I think you’ve made many mistakes. But I think you’ve many good decisions, too. You’re human, Tony. You struggle just as any normal man or woman that I’ve met. It’s… I suppose it’s because you’ve chosen to be a superhero, your actions influence the lives of many others. You act on a much bigger scale. So while your mistakes harm others, your getting back up and deciding to continue fighting saves many more lives.”

Tony smiled.

It was hard to believe someone had… someone had just _told_ him that. That someone had listened to him, that someone had told him that he was not just a failure––despite his failures––it was…

“You really believe I could be something? After all this?”

“I know you are something. We are who we are because of our mistakes, not just because of our heroism. We learn, Tony. It’s how we grow.”

“You sound very wise for such a young woman.”

Diana smiled. “And you sound far too tired for such a young man.”

It was Tony’s turn to laugh.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this one-shot! Let me know in the comments what you think of the fic as well as their friendship in general! xx Kudos are always appreciated :* and don't hesitate to message me on tumblr! (@zenyatta)


End file.
